Maddow Most-Watched Program In All Of Television Friday, Enjoys Highest-Rated Week Ever

Having just enjoyed its 10-year anniversary, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show is coming off of its best week ever in total viewers as it topped cable news in both the key 25-54 demographic and overall viewership. Maddow also was the most-watched program in all of television on Friday, beating out the broadcast networks’ shows.

According to Nielsen, Maddow attracted 3.662 million total viewers and 688,000 in the key demo on Friday. Maddow’s 9 PM competitor, Fox News’ Hannity, placed second among cable news programs on Friday in both the demo (525,000) and total viewership (3.010 million). FNC’s The Ingraham Angle placed third in total audience (2.571 million), while CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time took the bronze in the demo (501,000).

Powered by Maddow’s strong performance, MSNBC led across the board in the 8 PM to 11 PM primetime time slot on Friday, averaging 513,000 demo viewers and 2.772 million viewers overall. CNN placed second in the demographic with 482,000 viewers while nabbing a total audience of 1.365 million. Fox News captured 2.710 million total viewers and 463,000 in the key demo.

During the 9 AM to 5 PM daytime hours, CNN led the way in the demo with 344,000 viewers while averaging 1.327 million total viewers. Fox News placed first with 1.675 million viewers overall and pulled in a demo audience of 315,000. MSNBC averaged 1.412 million total viewers and 244,000 in the 25-54 metric.

For the week of September 10, Maddow snagged a total viewership of 3.43 million and 667,000 in the key demographic, setting a personal record in weekly total audience.

The top-rated CNN program on Friday was The Lead with Jake Tapper, which pulled in 1.467 million viewers overall.

Justin Baragona is the founder and publisher of Contemptor. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.